Dallas Hosted Reagan in 1984. In September It Hosts Something No Party Has Tried.
The RNC's midterm convention comes to American Airlines Center Sept. 9-10 with a public ticket lottery now open. A look at what the party is planning, what 1984 looked like, and what voters say they care about.
Wade Ramos
August 16, 2026/3 min read
Chart: most important issue to U.S. adults, Marquette Law School Poll, July 22-29, 2026. Inflation and cost of living 35%, economy 15%, Iran-Israel-U.S. war 10%, Medicare and Social Security 9%, SAVE America Act 9%, health care 5%, immigration and border security 5%, housing affordability 5%, crime 2%, abortion policy 1%.
The last time a Republican National Convention came to Dallas, delegates filled the Dallas Convention Center to renominate a sitting president, and a protester outside City Hall set an American flag on fire in a case that reached the Supreme Court.
That was August 1984. The party returns Sept. 9 and 10 for something structurally different: a convention held in a midterm year, with no presidential nomination to conduct.
What is scheduled
The Republican National Committee will hold the event at American Airlines Center, and President Donald Trump is slated to appear, according to the committee. RNC spokesman Zach Kraft told CBS Texas the party expects a large turnout, saying, "This event will be larger than the Republican convention in Milwaukee in 2024."
The committee has not published an attendance figure. It is seeking up to 750 volunteers a day, with openings listed on its convention website, and is planning programming at Victory Plaza outside the arena, including food, drinks and guest performers. Axios reported that Senate Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson both plan to attend.
Kraft said the program will focus on the administration's tax legislation and border enforcement, and on drawing contrasts with Democratic candidates ahead of November.
How to get in
Tickets are free and awarded by lottery. Applications opened Saturday, Aug. 15, at GOPConvention.com. Winners are selected at random, and the committee said a small number will receive VIP treatment that includes a front-row seat.
What voters say is on their minds
The convention arrives at a moment when the public's stated priorities are heavily economic. The Marquette Law School Poll's national survey, conducted July 22-29 among 1,076 adults with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points, asked which single issue matters most right now.
Inflation and the cost of living led at 35%, as it has in every Marquette national survey this year, followed by the economy at 15%. The war involving Iran, Israel and the United States was named by 10%, down from 24% in April. Medicare and Social Security and the proposed SAVE America Act on voting procedures tied at 9%.
Immigration and border security, a central theme of Republican messaging, was named most important by 5%, down from 14% in January, tying with health care and housing affordability. Crime registered at 2% and abortion policy at 1%.
1984, for comparison
The 33rd Republican National Convention ran Aug. 20-23, 1984, at the Dallas Convention Center, according to the Library of Congress record of its proceedings. Delegates renominated President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George H.W. Bush. Jeane Kirkpatrick, then U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, delivered a foreign policy address on the opening day.
The convention also produced a landmark First Amendment case. In 1984, in front of Dallas City Hall, Gregory Lee Johnson burned an American flag in protest of Reagan administration policies. He was convicted under a Texas flag-desecration law and sentenced to a year in jail and a $2,000 fine.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reversed the conviction, and in 1989 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4, in an opinion by Justice William Brennan, that flag burning is expressive conduct protected by the First Amendment.
A different city
The Dallas that hosts this convention is substantially larger than the one that hosted the last. The Census Bureau estimated the city's population at 1,329,491 as of July 2025, up from 1,197,816 in the 2010 census. The arena itself did not exist in 1984; American Airlines Center opened downtown in 2001, and the convention center that hosted Reagan has since been slated for redevelopment.
Sources: Republican National Committee; Marquette Law School Poll; Library of Congress; Oyez; U.S. Census Bureau.
Chart: most important issue to U.S. adults, Marquette Law School Poll, July 22-29, 2026. Inflation and cost of living 35%, economy 15%, Iran-Israel-U.S. war 10%, Medicare and Social Security 9%, SAVE America Act 9%, health care 5%, immigration and border security 5%, housing affordability 5%, crime 2%, abortion policy 1%.
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